Wu Cheng-en - Journey to the West (vol. 1)

“If I'm not an immortal,” said Monkey, “I don't know who is.” By now the devils' anger had given way to delight.

“Venerable immortal,” they said, “venerable immortal, please don't take offence at our rudeness. It was only because our common mortal eyes failed to recognize you.”

“I don't hold it against you,” said Monkey. “As the saying goes, 'An immortal body does not tread the common ground.' You couldn't be expected to know. I've come to your mountain today to bring over a virtuous man who has become an immortal and completed the Way. Anyone want to come with me?”

“I'll go with you, Master,” said Dexterous Ghost.

“Me too,” said Skilful Beast.

“Where have you two gentlemen come from?” asked Monkey, as if he did not know already.

“From the Lotus Flower Cave,” they said. “Where are you going?”

“We are under orders from our Great King to capture Sun the Novice,” the devils replied.

“Who?” Monkey asked.

“Sun the Novice,” they repeated.

“The Sun the Novice who's going with the Tang Priest to fetch the scriptures?” asked Monkey.

“Yes, that one,” the devils replied. “Do you know him?”

“That ape's outrageous,” said Monkey. “I know him, and I'm very angry with him too. Let me come along with you and help you catch him.”

“Thank you, Master,” they replied, “but we won't be needing your help. Our Junior King used his magic arts to bring three mountains here to crush him. Now he can't move an inch. We two have been sent here with treasures to pack him into.”

“What treasures?” asked Monkey.

“I've got the red gourd,” said Dexterous Ghost, “and he's got the jade vase.”

“How are you going to fit him into them?” asked Monkey.

“We'll set them upside down,” said the little devils, “and call to him. If he responds we'll put him inside and stick on a label saying: 'Supreme Lord Lao: to be dealt with urgently in accordance with the Statutes and Ordinances.' Three and a half hours later he'll be just so much pus.” This news shocked Monkey, who remarked to himself what a deadly plot this was.

“The Duty God of the Day told me that there were five treasures altogether,” he thought. “These are two of them. I wonder what the other three are.”

“Gentlemen,” he said aloud, “would you let me have a look at your treasures?” Not realizing that this was a trick the two little devils produced them from their sleeves and offered them respectfully with both hands to Money. He was delighted, though he did now show it. “Splendid things,” he thought, “splendid. I just have to flick my tail in the air and go whizzing off with a jump. They've given them to me.” Then he had second thoughts: “No, that's no good. Stealing them would be easy enough, but it would destroy my reputation. It'd be daylight robbery.” So he handed them back with the words, “But you haven't seen my treasure yet.”

“What is it?” the devils asked. “Would you let us common mortals see it? It'd bring us luck.”

The splendid Monkey put his hand down, pulled a hair from his tail, made a spell, and called “Change!” It turned into a big gold and red gourd one foot seven inches long that he produced from his waist. “Would you like to see my gourd?” he asked.

Skillful Beast took it, looked at it, and said, “It's a very big gourd, Master, shapely, and very fine to look at, but it's useless.”

“What do you mean, useless?” asked Monkey.

“Each of our treasures can contain a thousand people,” the devils replied.

“What's so special about being able to contain people?” said Monkey. “Mine can hold the sky itself.”

“The sky?” asked the devils.

“Yes, it really can,” Monkey replied.

“You must be lying,” said the little devils. “We could only believe that if we saw you do it. There's no way we're going to believe you otherwise.”

“If the sky annoys me,” said Monkey, “I pack it in here seven or eight times a month; but if it doesn't annoy me I might leave it alone for half a year.”

“Let's see if he'll swap his sky-holding treasure with us,” said Skilful Beast to the other demon.

“But he'd never swap his sky-holder for our one that can only hold people,” replied Dexterous Ghost. “If he won't swap we can throw our vase in too,” said Skilful Beast.

Concealing his delight, Monkey thought, “A gourd for a gourd and the vase too is two for one: I'll certainly agree to that.” So he went up to Skilful Beast, clutched him, and asked, “Will you swap them if it can hold the sky?”

“Yes, we'll swap them as long as it can hold the sky,” said the devil, “and I'll be your son if we don't.”

“Very well then,” said Monkey, “I'll put the sky in it to show you.”

The splendid Great Sage bowed his head to make the spell and say the words of it. He called on the Patroller of the Day, the Patroller of the Night together with the Protector of the Four Quarters and the Centre: “Report on my behalf to the Jade Emperor that I have now found the true faith and am escorting the Tang Priest to the Western Heaven to fetch the Scriptures. We are now hold up on a high mountain and my master is in dire distress. I want to trick the devils into swapping their treasures with me, so I most humbly beg that I be lent the sky to put away for an hour. This will enable me to succeed. If there's so much as a hint of a refusal then I'll be coming up to the Hall of Miraculous Mist to give battle.”

The Patroller of the Day went straight in through the Southern Gate of Heaven to the Hall of Miraculous Mist, where he reported everything to the Jade Emperor.

“Outrageous ape,” said the Jade Emperor. “This is insolence. Previously it was Bodhisattva Guanyin who persuaded us to release him to escort the Tang Priest. We sent the Protectors of the Four Quarters and the Centre and the Four Duty Gods to take it in turns to protect him. Now he wants to put the sky away. It can't be done.”

As soon as he had said that the sky could not be put away Prince Nezha stepped forward from the officials at court and submitted a memorial: “Your Majesty, it is possible to contain the sky.”

“How?” the Jade Emperor asked.

“When the primal chaos was first differentiated,” Prince Nezha replied, “the light and pure became the sky, and the heavy and dirty became the earth. The sky is a ball of pure vapor that holds up the palaces of Heaven, and by rights it should be impossible to contain it. But now that Sun the Novice is escorting the Tang Priest to fetch the Scriptures from the Western Heaven this will be a source of blessings as great as Mount Tai, a good deed as profound as the ocean. Today we ought to help him succeed.”

“How would you help him?” the Jade Emperor asked.

“I beg for the issue of an Imperial Edict to the Northern Gate of Heaven asking the True Martial God to lend us his Black Vulture Banner to spread outside the Southern Gate and block out the sun, moon and starts. Down there they will be unable to see each other and not even able to tell back from white. That will fool the devils into thinking that the sky has been packed into the gourd, and enable Sun the Novice to succeed.” The Jade Emperor ordered that this suggestion be implemented. Bearing the imperial command Prince Nezha went to see the True Martial God at the Northern Gate of Heaven and tell him what had happened. The True Martial God handed the prince the banner.

By now a patroller had hurried down to whisper in the Great Sage's ear, “Prince Nezha is coming to help you.” Monkey looked up to see swirling clouds of good omen, a sure sign of the presence of a god, then turned to the little devils and said, “We'll put the sky away then.”